Publications
De Facto Disenfranchisement
This report by the ACLU and the Brennan Center for Justice reveals widespread misunderstanding among state election officials of laws governing the right to vote of citizens with felony convictions. They receive little or no training on these laws, and there is little or no coordination between election offices and the criminal justice system. These factors, coupled with complex laws and complicated registration procedures, result in the mass dissemination of inaccurate and misleading information, which in turn leads to the de facto disenfranchisement of untold hundreds of thousands of eligible would-be voters.
Authored by: Erika Wood and Rachel Bloom
– 10/01/08
Voter Purges
This report is one of the first systematic examinations of voter purging, a practice—often controversial—of removing voters from registration lists in order to update state registration roll. After a detailed study of the purge practices of twelve states, Voter Purges reveals that election officials across the country are routinely striking millions of voters from the rolls through a process that is shrouded in secrecy, prone to error, and vulnerable to manipulation.
Authored by: Myrna Pérez
– 09/30/08
Eligible for Justice: Guidelines for Appointing Defense Counsel
Neither the Supreme Court, nor any other source, has detailed how communities should determine who can afford counsel and who cannot. This report presents information about best practices for determining financial eligibility for free counsel. The report gathers, in one place, existing standards and procedures, relevant judicial precedent, and the specific views of many defenders in communities around the country.
Authored by: The Access to Justice Program
– 09/16/08
Better Ballots
Eight years after the 2000 election, and billions of dollars spent on new voting technology, the problems caused by poor ballot design have not been fully and effectively addressed on a national level. Year in and year out, we see the same mistakes in ballot design, with the same results: disenfranchisement.
Authored by: Lawrence Norden, David Kimball, Whitney Quesenbery, and Margaret Chen
– 07/20/08
Universal Voter Registration (Draft Summary)
This document is a summary of the policy proposal for universal voter registration that is being prepared by our staff.
Authored by: Wendy R. Weiser and Renée Paradis
– 07/04/08
A Citizen’s Guide to Redistricting
Explains and presents the redistricting process for state and federal government, and for many local governments, in digestible parts. Consider it an owners’ manual, for those who should own the process: we, the people.
Authored by: Justin Levitt with Bethany Foster
– 07/01/08
Writing Reform: A Guide to Drafting State & Local Campaign Finance Laws (2008 Revised Edition)
A guide to writing state and local campaign finance laws.
Authored by: Deborah Goldberg
– 06/27/08
A Return to Common Sense
Imagine an America in which a vast number of people routinely vote; where voting is easy, accessible to all, and fair; in which campaigns know they cannot win by dividing slivers of the electorate, but by energizing large numbers behind their plans and ideas.
Authored by: Michael Waldman
– 04/01/08
Fair Courts: Setting Recusal Standards
The Brennan Center’s recusal report addresses increasing threats to the impartiality of America’s state courts, and provides ten proposals to achieving meaningful reform of state recusal systems.
Authored by: James Sample, David Pozen and Michael Young
– 04/01/08
Unchecked and Unbalanced: Presidential Power in a Time of Terror
Unchecked and Unbalanced: Power in a Time of Terror (The New Press) is an exploration of the expansion of executive power in the wake of 9/11, and provides a comprehensive analysis rooted in legal and political history of the Bush Administration’s theory of unlimited presidential license.
Authored by: Frederick A.O. Schwarz, Jr. and Aziz Huq
– Published 2007